THE BEJA TRIBES
OF THE RED SEA HINTERLAND
By D. NEWBOLD, O.B.E.
Sudan Political Service
THE " Fuzzy-Wuzzy " is a familiar figure to steamship
passengers at Port Sudan. His nonchalant walk, his
fine physique, and the " hayrick head of hair " described
by Kipling, make him stand out, at coaling time, from
the little bustling Yemenis and the nondescript dock-
loafers of mixed origin. Elderly tourists may recall that
the warlike Hadendowa once broke a British square, and
that the name of Osman Digna figured for several years
in the London headlines. Otherwise little is generally
known of the large block of Hamitic tribes called Beja,
who occupy about one-tenth of the Sudan's area, and
range across the north-eastern quadrant of the country.
There are four main Beja tribes ; the Bisliarin in the
North, most of whom live like conies in the rocks, and
pass a wandering and frugal life in the foothills of the
great watershed which is visible to all Red Sea steamers,
and on the vast Atbai plains sloping westward to the Nile :
the Amarar further south, a more compact tribe but also
scattered hillmen, who range from Musmar to Port Sudan
parallel to and north of the present railway : the Haden-
dowa, the largest and best-known tribe, who originally
inhabited only the tangle of hills and glens round Sinkat
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